In this month's issue

Super Food Ideas - December 2010
With a double cover, chicken dinner winners and cute Easter treats, there's so much to love about this month's isue.

The sweetest spice on the shelf, these springy beans infuse everything from ice-cream to apple sauce with their supreme real vanilla flavour.

Seeds of perfection

There's something evocative about vanilla beans that comes from their exotic flavour and heady perfume. It's a combination that adds a sensual dimension to both sweet and savoury dishes.

There are a few tricks to getting the most out of your vanilla bean. Firstly, buy vanilla beans that are dark brown to black, and look soft and pliable. Then keep them well away from light and heat.

To use, split the bean using the tip of a sharp knife. Then scrape along the cut surface to collect the hundreds of scented seeds. Use the seeds to infuse custards, creams, sauces, cakes, puddings ... the list goes on and on. Add the bean to your caster sugar to make vanilla sugar for baking - just bury it deep so no light hits it.